Aerial and marine propulsion



W. A. HEIDTMANN AND G. H. SUMNER.

.AERIAL AND MARINE PROPULSIONQ. APPLICATION FILED SEPLS. i919.

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w. A. HEIDTMANN AIIIIG. II. SIIMIIEII.

AERIAL AND MARINE PR'OPULSION. l APPLICATION FILED sans, 1919.

l ,370,3 1 3'. Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

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ATTORNEYS w. A. HEIDTMANN AND G. H. SUMMER.

Y AERIAL AND MARlNE PROPULSION.-

w. A. HEIDTMANN AND G. H, SUMMER.

AERIAL AND MARINE PROPULSION. AffPLlcATlon FIL'ED SEPT. 5. i919?.

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A TT OHNE YS4 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALLACE A. HEIDTMANN AND GEORGE n. sUMNER, or HIcxsvrLLn, NEW Yom;

AERIAL AND MARINE PROPULSION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

Application led September 5, 1919. Serial No. 321,817.

To czZZ whom it may concer-n.:

Be it known that we, WALLACE A. HEIDT- MANN, a citizen of the United States, and Grenen H. SUMNnn, subject of the King of Great Britain, and residents of. Hicksville, in the county of Nassau and State of New York, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Aerial and Marine Propulsion, .of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to aerial and marine propulsion, and particularly to a propeller of the combined aeroplane and helicopter type, which is particularly adapted, although not necessarily, to the propulsion of aeroplanes.

The purpose of our invention is the provision of a propeller which is designed to lift an aeroplane or other vehicle to which it is applied during a portion of its movement. and to propel the aeroplane forwardly during another portion of its movement, thus producing a propellerv which is capable of driving an aeroplane at greater speed with less expenditure of motive power than heretofore necessary.

it is also a purpose of our invention to provide a propeller having a gyroscopic action when in motion, which renders an aeroplane inherently stable. y l Y le will describe one form of propeller embodying our invention, and one form of aeroplane to which it is applied, and will then pointout the novel features thereof in claims.

ln the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a fragmentary view showing in front elevation one formof aeroplane having applied thereto oneformof propellers embodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is a View showing in top plan the propellers shown lin Fig. 1 with the upper plane of the aeroplane removed;

Fig. 3 isl an enlarged detailed view showing in front elevation one of the propeller sections of the propellers shown in the preceeding views;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view showing in front elevation, and partly in section, the drivinei means for the sections of each propeller;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged top plan view of one of the propellers shown in Figs. l and 2.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detailed view showing in section the blades comprised in the sections of both propellers.

Fig. 7 is a detailed sectional view of a part. of one of the frames for supporting the blades. n

Fig. 8-is a sectional view taken on the line 8--8 of Fig. 6.

Similarnreference characters refer to similar parts 1n each of the several views.

Referring specifically to the drawings. and particularlyY to Figs. l and 2, we have here shown a conventional form of aeroplane7 which in the present instance, is a bi-plane, including an upper plane P and a lower plane P connected by the usual struts 15 and the guy-wires 16. Between the planes Pand P is located the kengine designated at E, and which is designed to drive two propellers which form the subject-matter of our invention.

The propellers are generally indicated at K and K. .and are driven by the engine E through a.clriving shaft 17 which is operatively connected to the engine shaft 18 by means of bevel gears 19, as shown in Fig. 2. The propellers K and KY are indentical in construction, so that a detailed description of the construction and manner of driving the .same will suiiice for both. Referring to Figs. 3 and 1, the propeller K or K comprises two propeller sections S and S. lEach section S and S comprises a rectangulaiframe F including Side members 2O and top and bottom members 21. Pivotally supported between the side members 20 and a casing 25 are a plurality of blades B arranged one above the other and normally occupying substantially vertical positions, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6. Each blade B comprises two sections Z) and ZJ and cach section is concaved transversely on its underside as at 22 and convexed on its upper side as at 22, the purpose of this formation being to simulate the construction of an aeroplane to thereby form the necessary resistance' to the air for elevating an aeroplane.v As shown in Fig. 8, the outer transverse edge of each blade section b and b is formed with a projection J which abuts a rabb'et J formed on the side member 20 when the blade section is in normal or vertical position. rIf'he normal position of the blades B we term the working angle, and this angle is obtained by virtue of the location of the pivot points 23, which as shown in Fig. 6 are in advance of the longitudinal axis of the blades. With all of the blades Y thus causing the blades to move to substantially horizontal position and into engagement with abutment 24.

The casing extends centrally through the upper and lower members of the frame F, and in this tubular casing is arranged a Y shaft 26. Adjacent the upper end of the casing 25 is a housing 27 Vinto which projects the upper end of the shaft 26. Fixed to the upper end of the shaft 26, is a bevel gear 23, which meshes with a similar gear 29 fixed 'on one end of a shaft 30, suitably journaled in an arm A, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. The. shaft 26 has its lower end j ournaled in an arm A', and the arms A and A' are connected to each other and supported for ro tary movement by a casing 3l, and arranged within the casing 31 is a shaft 32. The shaft 32 is stationary, and is fixed in the beams H which comprise a art ofthe framework of the planes P and Supported upon the lower plane P' is a housing 33 which surrounds the shaft 32 and accommodates a bevel gear 34 fixed to the housing 3l, and a similar gear 35 fixed to one end of the vdriving shaft 17. At the intersection of the cas-` ing 3l and theV arm A, the latter is provided with a housing 36 which receives a bevel gear 37 fixed to the shaft 32, and a similar gear 3S fixed to the adjacent end of the shaft 30.

From the foregoing construction, it will be seen that upon rotation of shaft 17', the arms A and A' are rotated about the shaft `32 as a center, while the section S' is causedto maintain a predetermined position by virtue of the shafts'26 and 30. This operation is effected as a result of the shaft 32 being stationary, thereby causing the shaft 30 to rotate within itself, while rotating about the shaft 32 as a center.v This causes the shaft 26 to rotate during rotation of the arms A and A', thereby causing one side of the section S' to face in one direction irrespective of the position of the arms A and A'. VThis movement is illustrated to 'advan-l tage in Fig. ,where we have shown in dotted'hnes the position of the sections S or S', after or before they have moved from the position shown in solid lines.

It will be understood that the section S operates in a manner similar to section S', such operation being effected by a Shaft 30, which is operatively connected to the gear 37 of the stationary shaft 32 by a gear 38a.

With the propeller K or K rotating in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5, it will be understood from the foregoing description that because of the air currents created by the blades when the aeroplane is traveling, they will operate during one revolution of the propeller in the following manner: Duringtlie iirst half of a revolution of the propeller starting from the position shown in solid lines in Fig. 5, the pressure ofthe air against the blades B of such section S will cause the blades to occupy the neutral angle, as shown in Fig. 6. This position of the blades Bis maintained until the section startsupon the second half of the revolution whereupon the'speed of rotation of the blades being greater than the current of air against which the aeroplane is traveling, the blades are automatically moved to vertical position or to the working angle, by virtue of the pressure of air against the back of the blades. lNith the blades occupying the working anglek the full area of one plane is presented to the atmosphere, and because of the rotating movement of the propeller a forward thrust is imparted to the aeroplane. ln thisposition of the blades B, one propeller section S or S' is maintained until the nately moved to and from the liftingand propelling` positions. As a result of this operation, the propeller during one revolution imparts two lifting impulses and two propeiling impulses to the aeroplane.

As the sections S and S' of the propeller K or K' `rotate abouta common axis, it is obviousthatavhen rotating at a great speed a gyroscopic actionis effected which serves to stabilize the aeroplane and thereby prevent accidental tipping of the same. As indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2, the propellers K and K' rotate in opposite directions, whereby the adjacent sections of the propellers impart ali-elevating movement to the aeroplane while the outermost sections impart the propelling movement to the aero plane. In this manner the propelling impulses are distributed over a great area to effect the proper propelling movement to the aeroplane, while the lifting action is more concentrated and occurs adjacent the medial portion of the aeroplane. It will be manifest that in providing an aeroplane with two propellers arranged upon the opposite sides of the medial portion of an aeroplane, as shown in Figs. l and 2, the combined gyroscopic action of the propellers K and K produces an aeroplane which is inherently stable.

From the foregoing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, it will be manifest that we haveprovided a propeller for air or water vehicles which is capable of propelling the vehicle during a part of its movement, and of litting the vehicle during another part of its movement, such propeller being so mounted that it creates a gyroscopic action to inherently stabilize the vehicle.

Although we have herein shown and described only one form of propeller embodying our invention and one manner of applying the same, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the spirit of the invention, and the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having described our invention, what we claim is l. A propeller for water or air vehicles, comprising a pair of rotatable trames, a set of movable blades in each of said trames, means for rotating said trames about a single axis and for maintaining the same in a predetermined position relatively, and means for mounting the blades to effect an alternate feathering of each set under the action of the air or water when the trames are rotated.

2. A propeller for water or air vehicles, comprising a pair of rotatable trames, a set of movable blades in each of said frames, said blades having their undersurfaces concaved, means for rotating said frames about a single axis and for maintaining the same in a predetermined position relatively, and

means for mounting the blades to effect an alternate feathering of each set under the action ot the air or water when the frames are rotated.

3. A propeller, comprising two sets of feathering blades, means for rotating the two sets of blades in a horizontal plane to cause the blades of each set under the action of the wind to feather when moving in one direction to present an unbroken wall to the wind for the propulsion ot' a vehicle and when moving in the other direction to move to such a position that they function as elevating planes :tor lifting the vehicle.

4. In combination, a pair of propellers, each comprising two sets of t'eathering blades, and means for rotating the propellers in opposite directions.

5. In combination, a pair of propellers vdisposed in the same plane each propeller comprising two sets of blades with the blades of each set disposed one above the other, and means lfor simultaneously moving the propellers in opposite directions.

6. In combination, a pair of propellers, each propeller comprising two sets of blades with the blades of each set being concaved and mounted for eathering movement, and t means for moving the propellers in opposite directions.

7. In combination, a pair of propellers, each propeller comprising two sets of blades with the blades of each set being concaved and mounted for teathering movement, and means for moving the propellers in opposite directions and causing the sets of blades of each propeller to occupy fixed positions relatively.

WALLACE A. HEIDTMANN. GEORGE H. SUMNER. 

